“What do you know about him?”
Noah considered the stories he’d heard about the man. “I’ve heard he’s tough, plays dirty.”
“Yeah.” Richard sat back with a sigh. “I heard the same, but I’ve never done business with him.”
“Why did Davis tell you?” Noah wouldn’t call the president of Tidewater Logistics a friend, but they’d been acquaintances for years. He seemed like a good guy, but he’d shared something outside the company he’d been asked not to share. Not that Noah minded, but he was curious.
“He prefers MidAtlantic. He doesn’t want to change horses midstream. I’m sure he doesn’t like the idea of backing out ofa commitment, even if it was only sealed with a handshake. And maybe”—Richard shrugged—“maybe he figures a little competition will bring a better product in the end.” He leaned forward and squinted, the crinkles around his eyes deepening. He didn’t say anything for a long moment, but Noah felt his scrutiny.
“What?”
“Do you mind if I pry?”
“Since when do you ask?”
Richard sat back. “I know the merger is really important to you, but I don’t understand why. Business is good, right? You’ve taken what your dad built and turned it into something amazing, something he’d never have imagined.”
“Artificial intelligence wasn’t a thing when he died.”
“Even so, you’ve done wonders with MidAtlantic. He’d be proud of it. Of you.”
Would Dad be proud, though? What would he say if he knew how Noah had failed to rein Jasper in? His little brother had pulled a prodigal, selling his shares in MidAtlantic, taking his portion of their inheritance, and brushing the dust of Driftwood off his shoes. He’d rarely returned since Mom’s death, just for the funeral and then, a few years later, to dump a daughter Jasper had never told him about. Sure, there’d been visits—an hour here, a day there. But while his body had been in Driftwood, his mind had been very far away.
Noah had tried and failed to get Jasper to change his behavior, though it hadn’t been Noah’s job to instill a sense of responsibility into his younger brother.
Noahhadbeen responsible for who he’d chosen to marry. Noah’s short, disastrous marriage had cost him half his assets.
After what Jasper had cashed out and what Marianne had taken, Noah needed this merger to secure their family’s home—a legacy passed down from his great-great-grandfather—for the next generation.
Meaning Charlotte. At this point, unless Jasper accidentally fathered more children, Charlotte was the only heir.
Noah had lost everything else that really mattered to him. His dad, his mom, his brother. He was not going to lose the property entrusted to him.
He blew out a breath, feeling overwhelmed and defeated. He didn’t want to talk about any of that. He didn’t want to remind his mentor how his failures had risked Dad’s legacy. He didn’t want to share his desire to be a good father figure to the little girl who desperately needed him, and he didn’t want to confess that, unlike generations of Ayletts before him, he couldn’t figure out how to care for a family and run a company at the same time.
So he avoided the question. “Any advice on how I should play this?”
Richard’s lips slipped into a smirk. After a moment, he said, “As my daddy used to say, ‘All you can do is the best you can do.’ Just keep showing up and putting in the work. They have the financials now, which prove you’ve run your business well. Davis—and the honest ones on the Tidewater board—know that nobody else has a product as good as yours.”
But what if Hayes could compete? Noah was proud of what he and his team had built, the first fully comprehensive AI assistant for nautical logistics companies. MidAtlantic was in a class of its own.
Or so he’d thought.
“I’ll deal with it.” He checked his watch, surprised to find it was already after three. His entire day had vanished into meetings and problem-solving.
The weight of all of it—the merger, Charlotte, the still-unsolved break-in, even his inconvenient attraction to Delaney—pressed down on his shoulders. He needed air and space to think.
He stood. “I should get going.”
“You’re leaving work early?” Richard’s eyes widened as if he’d never heard of such a thing.
Noah gathered his keys from the desk drawer. “Charlotte asked me to come to her dance class today. I promised I’d try, and to be honest, I need to get out of here for a while.”
Richard’s expression softened. “Go on, then. Little girls don’t stay little forever.” He pushed himself to his feet with a groan that spoke of aging joints. “Don’t let this business get to you. You’ve got a great product and a great team, and there are a few on the board pulling for you.”
“Appreciate that.” But Lowell had it out for him. If Noah had to guess, he’d been the one to alert Hayes to the opportunity. He’d do whatever he could to get revenge.
Noah didn’t want to think about the damage Lowell could do to this merger and to his company.
